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Color Sidekick to be Released Tomorrow
Saxton writes "Just announced by hiptop.com's T-Mobile Rep, the awaited Color Sidekick will be available at CompUSA and 1-800-TMOBILE tomorrow. The thread is here. Now available is a data-only plan for $29.99, and you can now use any other T-Mobile price plan with the Sidekick. Anyone meeting me at CompUSA tomorrow morning?" Here is
my Review of the Original device, which I still think is among the most useful portable electronic devices I've seen. I'm looking forward to testing out the new version to see what improvements have been made to an already great unit.
Here is the compusa page:
p ?p roduct_code=303888&pfp=SEARCH
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.as
It looks like they are in stock and available for pickup in the Northeast US. The price seems high, and they will probably change it to $299 on friday.
Chicago2600.net more than a lifestyle, its a survival trait.
Cnet has a review at http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-2709830-404-2 1169039.html?txt that goes into more details.
Why can't I moderate something "Wrong" or at least "Grossly Misinformed"?
I suspect that we may all still have a very long wait until we (non-developers) can install applications on our (non-development) SideKicks.
Like you, I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for an SSH client for my SK. The fact that the application has existed for months, and that I've played with it on the emulator, and that it appears to be fully functional just makes the wait more frustrating.
Although the guys at Danger are relatively responsive and appear to be competent, they seem to have an excruciatingly long software developement cycle. Combine this with the closed nature of the SK's operating system and application distrubution mechanism, and I would be suprised if we have SSH running on the SK any time soon.
As I understand it, Danger must revise and upgrade the SideKick's operating system before you'll be able to install applications. And even after the upgrade, obtaining and installing new applications will never be straight-forward in the same way that it is with PalmOS or PocketPC phones. I suspect that the mass-distribution of applications will require the blessing and cooperation of Danger Inc. to provide the backend equipement for over-the-air installations.
Hopefully, this color SK will have the needed OS revisions to allow the installation of applications, or better yet come with SSH built-in.
How about a review of the new model rather than the old one? Here is one:
Cnet Color Hiptop Review
You're very close to the problem, but not quite right on. The best explanation for the reason normal non-developers can't have SSH right now (aside from needing an OS update, which is indeed true), is that T-Mobile has to approve everything that goes out to their customers. This is exactly the reason why app distribution will never be as straightforward as it is with PalmOS or PocketPC phones: T-Mobile is scared to death of this thing (well, sorta.) - in particular, the concern is of 3rd party developers writing apps that access the data that hiptops store on t-mobile's servers (every bit of info you put in the hiptop is stored on t-mobile's servers as well as the hiptop. Yes, this is a Good Thing, trust me) - anyway they don't want 3rd party developers screwing things up and creating tech support nightmares for them.
Is a handy, useful device if you need mobile connectivity. I've liked using mine-- the IM client is a very usable adless implementation of AIM. No group chats, but that's no big deal. The web browser is fairly capable, helped heavily by a recompressing/reformatting proxy on the server-side.
Where it loses out is as a PIM-- the calendar has a very limited number of entries, and sync for the calendar and address book is only one-way. You can import your records from Outlook, but there's no getting them back out. Sync was expected Q1 this year, but hasn't materialized yet, so I wouldn't bank on that feature.
The Java SDK is cool, but so far there is no way for developers to actually put code on users' devices. So, although lots of great apps have been written, they can only run in the emulator.
And finally, while I really like the way the device was designed as a whole, whoever is assembling the device is not doing them justice. I am on my 4th unit in 6 months. Some folks at hiptop.com are on their 8th unit. For a device that hasn't even been available for a year! I'm hoping that they have fixed their issues with the release of the color unit, but I would wait a few months before purchasing to see how they're holding up.
I like the unlimited data plan, and I'll be keeping mine. It's great as a wireless IM client and to check webpages (but their proxy doesn't like games.slashdot.org), just don't expect it to be everything they list in their features list. It's like a video game-- it got released before it was ready, and it's going to be a while before all the patches get put in place. And don't expect it to last more than 2 or 3 months. Fortunately, they've been good about shipping replacements.